Amazon Patents Shoulder Drone for Cops

By
Matthew HumphriesNov. 3, 2016, 11:03 p.m.

A voice-controlled, palm-sized UAV that can assess a situation without placing an officer in danger.

Police body cams are becoming a more common sight; they create a visual and audio record of what happens in case a complaint is made or evidence is required for trial, etc. But Amazon thinks is can do better than just a simple camera.

As Digital Trends reports, a patent has been awarded to Amazon for an "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Assistant." What the patent actually describes is a shoulder-mounted drone small enough to fit in the hand, which can be deployed for a range of purposes. The drone would be voice-activated and able to fly to a specific location in order to assess the situation before the officer potentially puts themselves in a dangerous position.

So, for example, the drone could approach a suspicious vehicle and stream video footage of what it sees to the officer before an approach, or take a look in the windows of a building before entry is attempted. If involved in an on-foot chase, the drone could be thrown into the air to help better track an assailant, or as the patent suggests, help locate a lost child in a crowd.

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Amazon is already hard at work trying to perfect a fleet of drones for package deliveries, so it makes sense for it to also explore other potential use cases. The voice control aspect is taken care of because Amazon has the Alexa Voice Service, which it already puts to good use inside Echo devices.

As for when we can expect to see cops walking around with a tiny UAV on their shoulders, don't hold your breath. This isn't something Amazon has announced as an active project. For all we know, someone mentioned such a drone in passing to Jeff Bezos and he responded with "might as well patent that."

It does seem like an obvious and relatively easy extension to Amazon's existing services, though, and it has all the computing capability a police force needs to keep track of a whole fleet of these drones thanks to the existence of Amazon Web Services (AWS).

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About the Author

Matthew is PCMag's UK-based editor and news reporter. Prior to joining the team, he spent 14 years writing and editing content on our sister site Geek.com and has covered most areas of technology, but is especially passionate about games tech. Alongside PCMag, he's a freelance video game designer. Matthew holds a BSc degree in Computer Science from Birmingham University and a Masters in Computer Games Development from Abertay University. See Full Bio